From left, Chris Eyking, Ryan Gale and Cindy LeBlanc are pictured inside Ballast Grounds Fisheries recently. Each year, the North Sydney company holds a contest known as “The Monster Lobster Contest” for the North Sydney fisher who catches the biggest lobster of the season. This year, Eyking and LeBlanc caught the biggest lobster to date in the contest, weighing 13.5 pounds.

NORTH SYDNEY - On the morning of June 6, Chris Eyking and Cindy LeBlanc began their day like any other fishers during lobster season – fishing.

But Eyking and LeBlanc didn’t realize they were about to catch something special. As LeBlanc, the owner of the Cindy Lee III, pulled in one of her traps full of lobsters inside, she noticed one of the lobsters looked much bigger than the others. When the day ended, LeBlanc and Eyking took the lobster to Ballast Grounds Fisheries to be weighed. There they learned the lobster was a hefty 13.5 pounds. What made the very rare catch even more special was fact that the lobster was caught one year to the day and hour that LeBlanc’s father, Ronnie LeBlanc, a fishermen for 50 years, had died. “It was touching, I knew he was with me for sure,” said LeBlanc with tears in her eyes. “The first thing I said to Chris when we picked it out was da’s here with us today.” To make things even more ironic, the previous day, June 5 and into the following morning, the island experienced stormy weather. “We got it on June 6 and that lobster moved when it shouldn’t have moved,” said Eyking, the captain of the boat. “It was a stormy weather day and they don’t move usually in that kind of weather, so it’s pretty rare.” Eyking said all the fishermen at Ballast Grounds Wharf believe LeBlanc’s father had something to do with the catch. “Everyone says around here that he (Ronnie) put that lobster in the trap for Cindy,” said Eyking with a smile on his face. “Anybody who knew him very well knew outside of his family, fishing was his next biggest thing.” “We don’t usually see big lobsters until July sometime, right around the time when fishing season is about to close and everybody is rushing to the scale with their big lobsters,” he said. “It was only three weeks into the season when we caught it.” Prior to catching the lobster near North Sydney, Eyking and LeBlanc had entered an annual contest for fishers in the community called “The Monster Lobster Contest,” put on each year by Ballast Grounds Fisheries. The contest, which was won by LeBlanc’s father three years ago, was first started in 2000 when the staff and management of the North Sydney company came up with the idea to give a plaque to the fisher who caught the biggest lobster at the end of the fishing season. Over the years, the fishers decided to put money in a pot, with the winner of the contest winning the money. However, this year, they agreed the winner would donate the funds to a local charity. “I think lots of people should be giving back to charity if they can afford to, maybe this will catch on,” said Eyking. “Many local charities raise money around here, like the cancer society and different ongoing things, so it feels good to give back in some way.” This year, the contest featured a total of 26 fishers. In total, the pot raised was $1,350. The winner received a T-shirt for the captain and co-captain and a license plate, along with the money for charity. After minor expenses, the total pot donated to charity was $1,240. Eyking and LeBlanc donated the winnings to Ryan Gale, a 10-year-old boy, who’s raising money for the Cape Breton Regional Hospital Foundation through the annual Because You Care road hockey tournament, scheduled for September. “This is an important charity because all the proceeds will help our local hospital and provide excellent care to many people in Cape Breton,” said Gale. Eyking said most of the biggest lobsters he seen around the area are 12 or 12.5 pounds, but he never seen anything over that size. “We never seen any fishermen rushing to the scale this year to have their lobsters weighed,” said Eyking. “They may have given up in the contest when they saw our lobster, but who knows.” When asked if he thought the lobster size would be beat in next year’s contest, Eyking said he didn’t know, but knows there will be some lobsters close to it. As for the lobster itself, Eyking and LeBlanc sold the lobster to Ballast Grounds Fisheries, who later sold it to a buyer in New Brunswick.